Where you learn about my love for God, and find out what is really on my mind.

Friday, October 23, 2009

The road to hell is paved with pride

Pride: inordinate self-esteem; conceit; worldly, materialistic

A damning vice:...Rash and self-willed, such men in their deriding do not regard majesty; whereas angels, though greater in strength and power, do not bring against themselves an abusive charge...They promise them freedom, whereas they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whatever a man is overcome, of this he is also the slave (2 Peter 3:10-11, 19).

Do not love the world, or of the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; which is not from the Father, but from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).

Stirs up strife:The greedy man stirs up disputes, but he who trust in the Lord will prosper. He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is safe (Proverbs 28:25-26).

Prevents instruction:They answered and said to him, "Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?" And they turned him out (John 9:24). [These are the Jews, specifically the Pharisees, who refuse to believe in their pride that the man witnessing to them had been cured of his blindness by Jesus.]

Leads to enmity:Proudly the wicked harass the afflicted, who are caught in the devices the wicked have contrived. For the wicked man glories in his greed, and the covetous blasphemes, sets the Lord at nought. The wicked man boasts, "He will not avenge it"; "There is no God," sums up his thoughts (Psalm 9B (10): 3-4).

Leads to ruin:Pride goeth before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). [Yes, God's word in the Bible is the origin of the famous expression "Pride goeth before a fall."]

Will be abased and destroyed:For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,And the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts (Malachi 3:19 or in some older Bibles Malachi 4:1).[The prophet who calls himself Malachi (which was like saying "anonymous" back then, since he was in fear of denouncing, even though he spoke with God's authority, the wickedness of the chosen people the Israelites, including the priests) is repeating God's words and notice that God is going to burn not only the evildoers but also the proud.]